American Association for the Advancement of Science Elects Nine Fellows from Stony Brook University

Newswise — STONY BROOK, NY, November 30, 2012 – Nine Stony Brook University scholars have been elected Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and will be honored for their contributions to science and engineering at the Fellows Forum held during the AAAS Annual Meeting on February 16, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts. Stony Brook’s eight recipients are among 702 newly elected members who will receive a certificate and a blue and gold rosette pin as a symbol of their distinguished accomplishments.

Among the new AAAS Fellows are Dennis N. Assanis, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs; Vitaly Citovsky, Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology; Walter Eanes, Professor and Chair, Department of Ecology and Evolution; Lev Ginzburg, Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolution; Gene Sprouse, Distinguished Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy; Rolf Sternglanz, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology; Kenneth Takeuchi, Distinguished Teaching Professor, Department of Chemistry; Jin Wang, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry; and Stanislaus Wong, Professor, Department of Chemistry. This class of honorees now makes 44 total Stony Brook University faculty members who have been recognized with this honor. Election as an AAAS Fellow is bestowed upon members by their peers.

“This year’s election of nine distinguished scholars, many of whom are internationally recognized, into the ranks of AAAS Fellows is evidence of our faculty’s scholarship and vast contributions to their respective fields,” said Stony Brook University President Samuel L. Stanley Jr., MD. “Their meritorious work not only serves the University, but it serves society by pushing the frontiers of scientific advancement, research and discovery in engineering and the sciences.”

The tradition of AAAS Fellows began in 1874. Currently, members can be considered for the rank of Fellow if nominated by the steering groups of the Association’s 24 sections, or by any three Fellows who are current AAAS members (so long as two of the three sponsors are not affiliated with the nominee's institution), or by the AAAS chief executive officer. Each steering group then reviews the nominations of individuals within its respective section and a final list is forwarded to the AAAS Council, which votes on the aggregate list.

Stony Brook University AAAS Fellows Class of 2012Dennis N. Assanis, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, was elected for “distinguished scientific contributions to improving fuel economy and reducing emissions of internal combustion engines, and for lasting contributions to engineering education and academic leadership.” Provost Assanis, Stony Brook University’s Chief Academic Officer, is also recognized internationally for his innovative development of modeling methodologies and experimental techniques to shed light into complex thermal, fluid and chemical processes in internal combustion engines so as to improve their fuel economy and reduce emissions. He has published, with his students and collaborators, more than 300 articles in journals and conference proceedings. He is the recipient of numerous teaching and research awards throughout his distinguished career.

Vitaly Citovsky, Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, was elected for “distinguished contributions to understanding plant microbe interactions, particularly for refined models describing virus movement in plants and crown gall tumor formation in plants.” His research focuses on three main projects: genetic transformation of plant cells by Agrobacterium, intercellular transport of plant viruses and plant cell proteins and the remodeling of plant chromatin by histone modifications. Professor Citovsky is the winner of the 2012 Noel T. Keen Award for Research Excellence in Molecular Plant Pathology from the American Phytopathological Society and is a member of Faculty 1000 Biology and serves on numerous editorial boards for research journals. He has published more than 160 peer-reviewed research articles, edited three books and holds three patents.

Walter Eanes, Professor and Chair, Department of Ecology and Evolution, was elected for “distinguished contributions to the field of evolutionary and population genetics and in particular to the development and application of Drosophila as a model system.” His research interests are in the area of population genetics and evaluating the effects of natural selection on the genome. A particular focus is in connecting the consequences of natural selection on the fruit fly (Drosophila) acting through life history and metabolic pathways down to individual genes and their genetic variation. Dr. Eanes’ laboratory attempts to interface life history variation and physiology, population genetics, pathways and the effects of individual metabolic enzymes on aging. He is a former member of the Genetics and Evolution editorial boards, is active in the Genetics Society of America. He has published more than 60 peer-reviewed research articles and four book reviews.

Lev Ginzburg, Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolution, was elected for “distinguished contribution to the field of theoretical and applied ecology.” He is a theoretical ecologist (a relatively young field of science - less than a century old), whose research centers on the principles involved in formulating questions for population and ecosystem dynamics. He has recently been focusing on an approach for modeling trophic interactions and the theory of population cycles based on maternal effects. His second area of interest is applied ecology for which he has been developing methodologies for ecological risk analysis based on stochastic models of population growth. He has published more than 150 research articles and 50 reviews, book chapters and published letters. He has conducted over 100 invited talks at conferences and seminars.

Gene Sprouse, Distinguished Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, was elected for “distinguished leadership in the nuclear-physics community and for dedicated and innovative service as Editor-in-Chief of the American Physical Society since 2007." Professor Sprouse’s research interests include nuclear structure, laser spectroscopy of radioactive atoms, and neutral atom trapping. He joined Stony Brook University in 1970 and has served as the Director of the Nuclear Structure Laboratory from 1984–1987 and again from 1996–2007. He also served as Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy from 1990-1996. In 1999, he received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. He has published more than 130 articles in peer reviewed journals, and was a Sloan Fellow, Humboldt Awardee and Argonne Fellow. He is also a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) and currently the APS Editor-in-Chief, serving as one of the Society’s three operating officers with responsibility for all APS journals, Physical Review, Physical Review Letters and Reviews of Modern Physics.

Rolf Sternglanz, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, was elected for “major discoveries in yeast genetics concerning topoisomerase action, the mechanism of SIR2 activity, and the relationship between gene silencing and perinuclear localization.” His laboratory uses the budding yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) to identify mutants and characterize genes affecting structure and function of the nucleus. This includes genes encoding proteins involved in gene regulation, DNA replication or chromatin structure. Among many accolades, Professor Sternglanz is a Guggenheim and a Fogarty International Fellow. He has published more than 90 research articles, 19 book chapters and reviews.

Kenneth Takeuchi, Distinguished Teaching Professor, Department of Chemistry, was elected for “distinguished contributions to inorganic chemistry, through novel synthetic design of molecular and solid state materials, and through outstanding mentoring, teaching, and diversity efforts.” His research involves the development of synthetic strategies yielding control and variation of both crystallite size on the nanometer scale and non-stoichiometric chemical composition of inorganic materials, and the subsequent utility of these inorganic materials towards energy storage. In 2011, he was named a Fellow of the American Chemical Society (ACS). In addition to his research efforts, Professor Takeuchi has received over 20 awards for excellence in teaching and mentoring undergraduate and graduate students. He was named the New York state recipient of the Carnegie Foundation Professor of the Year award in 2010, and in 2008 was runner-up for the National Inspire Integrity Award from the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. He has also been recognized with an ACS Stanley Israel Regional Award for Advancing Diversity in the Chemical Sciences, and a Responsible Care National Catalyst Award from the Chemical Manufacturers Association.

Jin Wang, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, was elected for “pioneered contributions to computational theoretical chemistry, particularly for theoretical conceptual development and modeling of protein folding, molecular recognition, single molecules and cellular networks.” His research interests include theoretical biological physics and biophysical chemistry, specifically single molecules, protein dynamics, protein folding, biomolecular recognition, cellular networks and systems biology, neural networks and ecology and evolution. Throughout his career he has received numerous awards and honors including the National Science Foundation Career Award, the K.C. Wong Foundation Research Award and is a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He has published more than 125 research articles and conducted more than 200 seminars and invited meeting talks.

Stanislaus S. Wong, Professor, Department of Chemistry, and joint appointee with Brookhaven National Laboratory, was elected for “distinguished contributions to the covalent surface chemistry of carbon nanotubes as well as the sustainable synthesis, characterization, and applications of novel non-carbonaceous nanostructures.” His research is focused on two main areas (namely, nanotube chemistry and nanostructure synthesis) that will broaden the potential impact and practical applicability of nanostructures. He has published more than 115 peer-reviewed articles and nine journal covers, earned 13 patents, and has been a recipient of the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship, and the Buck-Whitney Award from the Eastern New York Section of the American Chemical Society.

The AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science as well as Science Translational Medicine and Science Signaling. AAAS was founded in 1848, and includes 261 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of 1 million. The non-profit AAAS is open to all and fulfills its mission to “advance science and serve society” through initiatives in science policy, international programs, science education and more.